Radar and camera sensors are often employed on vehicles to enable systems for enhanced vehicle safety including Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC), Forward Collision Warning (FCW), collision mitigation or avoidance via autonomous braking, pre-crash functions such as airbag arming or pre-activation, and Lane Departure Warning (LDW). Systems that employ both radar and camera sensors provide high level active safety capability and are available on production vehicles. However, the cost of conventional systems is typically high and integration into the vehicle system is generally complex, due to the need for multiple sensors at multiple locations, currently limiting these systems to optional equipment on luxury vehicles.
Integration of the radar and camera sensor for use in a vehicle could significantly reduce sensor cost and vehicle integration cost to enable high capability active safety systems to be offered as standard equipment on many vehicles. However, many design challenges need to be overcome to effectively implement an integrated radar-camera sensor that meets application requirements and vehicle integration constraints.